Justice and Family Tradition
by sinsilver
Summary: Team seven wasn't what Sasuke was hoping for when he graduated the Academy. But learning more about Naruto gives him thoughts that maybe there's more to life than charging after the shadow of his brother. M/M
1. Chapter 1

Team seven wasn't what Sasuke was hoping for when he graduated the Academy. But learning more about Naruto gives him thoughts that maybe there's more to life than charging after the shadow of his brother. M/M 

Disclaimer: I own nothing. 

Sasuke scowled as the teams were named. Sakura! and Naruto?! A ditzy fan girl and the most incompetent idiot in the class. Sakura though she scored well on tests, had one of the worst practical scores and seemed to lose her head around him. Naruto well, the guy had the worst test scores in the class and couldn't throw a kunai straight. Not to mention Naruto had a ridiculous grudge against Sasuke and seemed to go out of his way to challenge him. Well he thought, Itachi only lasted as a genin for a year and afterward he didn't have much to do with his team so hopefully Sasuke could do the same. 

Two hours later and he was getting impatient. This was ridiculous. What kind of Jounin instructor was late by two hours? He hadn't thought to bring any scrolls from his family library so instead of spending the time productively he was left to try channeling chakra around his eyes. It was documented in one the family scrolls he'd read years ago that though triggering the Sharingan for the first time required certain circumstances, he could strengthen the eye muscles and make the Sharingan easier to use if he practiced channeling chakra to his eyes. At the moment howerver, it was difficult to tell if whatever he was doing was helping any, other than letting him see a little more clearly and giving him a massive headache. 

Finally the door opened and a man stepped in, only to fall directly into one of the traps that Naruto had set up in his boredom. Sasuke squinted suspiciously. No way could he have actually fallen for that. Either he was the most incompetent Jounin ever and likely to die very soon, or he had done it on purpose, perhaps to test them. Sasuke mulled that over as the man opened his mouth and said. 

"Meet me on the roof in 5 minutes" and disappeared in a small puff of smoke. _Not completely incompetent_ Sasuke amended seeing the Flash step. _Most likely a test then. But for what purpose?_

Once they were on the roof the jounin asked to start introductions and Sakura asked him to start. 

"My name is Hatake Kakashi, my likes and dislikes are private and my dreams are none of your business". 

_Hatake Kakashi! _Sasuke recognized the name. Before The Incident, his family had made sure he knew who were the top ninja Konoha and Hatake was definitely amount the strongest 20. In a village of over three thousand ninja this was no small feat. Furthermore Sasuke knew his instructor was the Fourth Hokage himself, meaning that he was qualified for the Hokage position himself and furthermore it put the three of them in contention for the position should they prove powerful enough by extension. 

Why though? His family had often gripped about how no Uchiha was ever considered for anything related to the Hokages position. Itachi had been shunted off to a powerful but completely politically unconnected Jounin, an insult that Sasuke's family had taken personally. Was this some attempt at easing a village guilty conscience? Give the last survivor of a clan the acclaim the clan always wished for? Keep him loyal to the village? But likely the same reasons that they applied to the clans unsuitability for Hokage would extend to him as well. So why throw away their last possible Jounin instructor for a Hokage candidate? Unless they meant to do away with the tradition altogether? But that still wouldn't make any sense since the system existed for a reason. Having the most powerful mentor the next generation of the most powerful was a useful system in insuring that they reached their full potential. Furthermore there were rumored things that were passed specifically from Hokage candidate to Hokage candidate and they were groomed specifically for leadership and command, unlike other teams that had to learn to obey orders immediately from any superior officer. Why then was Sasuke chosen? Unless it wasn't Sasuke that they were choosing. Sasuke flicked a glance over his teammates. Sakura was a civilian though she must have shown quite a bit of promise for the Hokage to choose her for this team, she didn't have the political connections to the Hokage role, furthermore civilian ninja were typically a lot less powerful than their pedigreed clan counterparts. In Sasuke's eyes it seemed more an attempt to appease the civilian council and encouraging recruitment. By placing her on the Hokage candidate team, she was guaranteed to become strong and would draw in other civilian children who would try to emulate her. If it wasn't her however… Sasuke turned considering eyes on Naruto. 

Naruto. An orphan with publically announced unknown parents. But they couldn't be unknown, not if Naruto was on this team. They weren't likely to be village enemies, Hokage candidates had to be loyal. Konoha could not afford another powerful traitor like Orochimaru. They had to be powerful and there had to be a reason that the village council kept the knowledge secret. Naruto, it seemed was much more than he appeared to be. 

After they went through the introductions Hatake announced the test tomorrow. Some of Sasuke's confusion cleared. Of course there would be a further test. Psyche profiles and test scores aside, there had to be some further test on whether or not they deserved the honor. How best to pass the test then? Hatake disappeared in a cloud of smoke and Sakura was on him immediately badgering him for dinner. He opened his mouth to tell her no before he paused. The test tomorrow. For a best chance at passing they would probably have to work together. Teams were always a group of three and though the other two could likely not do anything useful it would be remiss of him to not at least check. Well then… 

"Okay Dinner. But Naruto, you're coming too." Sakura's face went from ecstatic to confused while Naruto's was frozen in an expression of shock. Before either of them could recover Sasuke stood up and walked over to the stair well. 

"Anyone hate sushi?" he said stepping down the first stair. Naruto was the first to recover. "Why the hell do you want me to come to dinner, bastard?" Naruto shouted as he bound after Sasuke. "We'll talk about this at Dinner" Sasuke replied. 


	2. Chapter 2

As they entered the Sushi restaurant Sasuke was greeted with his usual bow of welcome. One of the perks of being well known. The server looked at his companions doing a double take as he took in Naruto's orange outfit. A flash of fear crossed his face before he turned and shakily led Sasuke to his usual table. 

That was odd, thought Sasuke. Naruto and fear had never entered the same thought before but as he looked around he noticed it right off. The people in the tables next to them were fine until they noticed Naruto, or more specifically his outfit. Then they flinched and in the next minute Sasuke found that no one was sitting at any of the tables next to them and the restaurant was rapidly on its way to becoming empty despite the fact that usually at this time the restaurant was packed. Sasuke filled their reactions for further thought for now, he had more pressing concerns such as the test tomorrow. He could dissect his new teammates after he was sure they would continue to be a team. 

"So," Sasuke started. "What do either of you know about this test tomorrow or about Genin teams in general?" Naruto looked a little confused still bewildered to be in a restaurant with Sasuke and Sakura. Sakura answered after a slight bit of hestitation. 

"I don't know anything about the test other than what Sensei told us but as for Genin teams, Iruka told us in lecture a week ago that there were two paths for Genin, teams of three under an instructor and the Genin Corps where Genin could pursue a specific path such as Healing or Tracking" She finished and looked at Sasuke for affirmation. He nodded at her and looked over at Naruto. He looked like he had heard the information before but didn't have much to add to the conversation. 

"Right" Sasuke continued. "But what they don't tell you is that if you end up in the Genin Corps promotion becomes much more difficult. Think about it. Hundreds of ninja are required for administration, the hospital, messengers, interrogation, intelligence, etc and none of those positions require them to be necessarily strong ninja. For those ninja the ninja Corps are perfect, they can pursue a certain discipline to the exclusion of most the rest in a large classroom like envoirment. But in my opinion they aren't truly ninja. The best always come from the Genin team. Genin teams have what amounts to as a private, powerful tutor in a Jounin instructor. A Jounin has to be proficient in all three branches of ninja skill and are often willing to find further tutors if a student is specifically proficient in a certain field." 

Like Itachi, Sasuke thought. Itachi had gotten private tanto lessons with a Jounin after only a month on his Genin team. Not to mention since he had the backing of the entire clan, he'd been doing one on one lessons with Jounin ninja since he could walk. Itachi was groomed to get as high as possible on the ninja ranking ladder. If not Hokage, than head of Anbu or on the Hokage's board of advisors. The family had been so proud when he'd become Anbu captain at age 11. Sasuke unlike his brother was groomed to take his father's role. Head of Konoha's Police force, the arm of justice. He was to maintain the role of the Uchiha in Konoha as his brother sought to further its reputation. That had all come tumbling down three years ago. But now was not the time for such thoughts. 

"If we fail tomorrow" he said continuing his previous line of conversation. "Naruto," he said directly addressing his table companions, "You will be very lucky to ever get close to the Hokage position" he turned "And Sakura, I'm not sure what your goals were for becoming a ninja, but as a civilian you likely won't go very far without someone powerful backing you. Civilians have a 80% drop out rate but since you've taken that headband, you will never be able to quit. Even if you decide you hate killing" He finished softly. 

"Hate killing?" Sakura said just as softly. Sasuke squared up his shoulders and looked her directly in the eye. 

"Killing". He said matter of factly. "We are hired killers. Clan kids are raised to it. We know our family's are filled with murders. Ino, Shikamaru and Choiji's father's are a trio of infamous killers. In the third Shinobi war they are said to have killed over a hundred ninja in one of the final battle's alone". Sasuke reflected back to the history lessons he had taken as a child. The Ino-Shika-Chou combination. While they were originally a capture and interrogation unit they had quickly adapted to large scale battle tactics. Inochi would control an enemy commander ordering his troops in such a way that Shikaku could freeze them in place before Choji's father would mow them all down while they were helpless to move. 

"We're taught to forget about the wives and children that enemy ninja might have. Clan and Village always come first" Sakura looked stunned while Naruto looked a little less so. It made sense, Naruto lacked a civilian family that might have taught him to have compassion for everyone. 

"Why do you think we spend so much time in Academy?" he asked trying to further hammer in the point. "They teach us next to nothing useful in battle. Basic taijitsu and throwing sure, but that could all be learned in a much shorter time if the instructors focused on it more. Instead they are teaching us loyalty to the village, raising us to be good child soldiers, willing to die at the Hokages command". Now even Naruto looked shocked. 

"Die?" Naruto asked with a trembling voice. 

"Yes, die" Sasuke answered. "Genin are cannon fodder. Unless you get a cushy job behind a desk, 60% of genin die. We have higher chances of survival with a Jounin teacher but to counter it, we will take more dangerous missions. Even if you survive to Chunin or Jounin there is no retirement. You might be able to take a leave of absence for a family, but the Hokage can always call on you to take another mission. Most ninja don't make it past 30. The fact that the Hokage is so old is a testament to his power". 

Both Naruto and Sakura looked exesively grim now. That was not completely Sasuke's intention. He wanted them to take the test tomorrow very seriously but not be scared enough to try quitting the Ninja Corps. Not that quitting was an option anyway. 

"Well, none of that is our concern right now. I just thought I'd take you out to dinner while you still think I'm a normal ninja because come tomorrow you will both worship me as a god". Sasuke said in a deadpan voice with a slight smirk. It had the desired reaction. Naruto immediately spat out a "In your dreams, teme" and Sakura calmed down after this very common interaction. 

"So if you aren't going to get out of the way tomorrow what will you contribute?" Sasuke finally posed the question he'd been waiting on all evening. 

Naruto, was under all his bluster and bragging likely a stealth expert, if his stories could be believed. Sasuke remembered the Hokage painting incident and he thought it likely that Naruto had not lied about being caught until hours after the fact even if he had exaggerated the numbers of his pursuers. How he could evade ninja in his orange outfit was something Sasuke was not aware of. 

Sakura was good at intelligence. Years as Ino's friend had taught her how to use gossip and mine useful information out of it and she had a natural mind for strategy. 

Sasuke knew he'd be the Ninjitsu specialist and at the moment he was also the Taijitsu specialist although he though Naruto might grow into that role. He had little knowledge of Genjistu but he knew that once he activated his Sharingan, he would automatically gain a basic mastery over it. It was also considered an art that women typically excelled in so perhaps Sakura would pursue it farther. 

Genjitsu had been Itachi's specialty despite his proficiency with the other two branches. Sasuke had yet to determine whether he wanted to mimic Itachi's rise to power. On one hand, as brothers in a very specialized clan, they would likely have very similar strengths and what Itachi did well Sasuke would also likely do well, on the other hand, Itachi was an undisputed genius and Sasuke might be better off exploiting weaknesses in Itachi's style. 

He refocused his thoughts and brought conversation around to a plan for tomorrow. An hour later they had a basic plan on how to approach their test tomorrow.


	3. Chapter 3

The next morning saw them waiting excitedly for Hatake to show up. They had met very early that morning to share the information they had gathered, finalize and then start to execute their plan. Sakura had visited Ino to pump her and by extension her father, for information on Hatake. Inochi had thought the idea clever and had given her much more info than she had expected. Team seven had discovered that he was serially late, had a fondness for porn and had a pseudo rivalry with a man named Maito Guy. 

Naruto had stolen the latest copy of the Bingo book from one of the ninja stores. It listed Hatake Kakashi along with his numerous nicknames and his specialty, Ninjitsu. Sasuke was surprised to discover that Hatake had a Sharingan but he figured it was likely one of the Uchiha's dirty secrets they would never admit to. The Uchiha's adhered to the common clan practice of killing bastards or bringing them directly into the family through adoption. The fact that Hatake managed to keep his last name indicated that his family was either powerful enough to escape the bastard purge or the Uchiha's hadn't known about him until he was too powerful and well connected. Going by the stats on his Chunin and Jounin promotion age, he was likely the second although he could have had tutoring from a powerful family. 

Sasuke had had less success than the others, he had searched the clan library for information specifically about the test and had only discovered that each Jounin had his own test and occasionally some teams would pass even before they official met their instructor, usually because either the Hokage had ordered the team to pass or because the Jounin had spied on the team and was sure they were qualified. 

He had had more luck in researching his teammates however. Sakura was pretty straight forward. Using his Uchiha connections he'd discovered that Sakura's father was a banker and fairly high up in the chain and her mother sat on the Civilian Council. The Civilian Council didn't have much to do with ninja affairs, mainly they dealt with matters relating to the economy (imports, exports, city layout, infrastructure upgrades, etc) however as it was a ninja village it was a source of tension between the ninja council and civilian council when the ninja council would shut their civilian counterpart out of a discussion citing the need for secrecy. Sakura's promotion through the ninja ranks would help appease the civilian counsil and let them feel they had a voice on the ninja side. Of course there were other powerful civilian born ninja in the ninja corp however none of them were very well politically connected. Sasuke speculated that Hatake's team likely had a well-connected civilian born but what happened to him/her Sasuke was not able to find out. Itachi's team had had two civilian born ninja. Both were well-connected but not powerful and last he had heard, one of them had died and the other had been relegated to some administration role. Putting them on the same team as Itachi was meant to show that they were given every chance to succeed.

Naruto was still an enigma. He had cemented his theory that much of the stigma surrounding Naruto was attached to his clothes. When he showed some of his old police force contacts Naruto's headshot there was no reaction. Once the clothes were included or his name was mentioned however, his contacts shut down. Their instant denial of any knowledge and prompt excuses made Sasuke even more suspicious but he could find no answers. 

His contact had not divulged any information on Hatake that Naruto and Sakura had not been able to discover although one had speculated that it was rumored that Hatake had a dog summoning contract. If it came to combat or trap making, then any sort of hiding would be useless and even Naruto was going to have trouble. 

Sasuke's main contribution to the group was supplies. He had brought everything from ninja wire to a tent and while the supplies weren't likely to be enough for the three of them to go camping overnight, he hoped that they could improvise the rest and a wide range of tools would be more useful than a specific set for an undefined task. 

Hatake finally showed up around 10am and he explained the task to them. Sasuke immediately knew that the two bell test was a ruse, although Sakura and Naruto didn't look convinced. As soon as Hatake hit the timer, he grabbed the two by the collar of their shirts and pulled them back into the underbrush. Hatake likely knew exactly where they were but Sasuke was hoping that he was too lazy to go after them and he had to explain some things to his team.

An hour later twenty Narutos came bounding out of the bushes and charged at Hatake. Sasuke and Sakura stayed in the bushes. Hatake dispensed with the first ten clones fairly easily only to find that the other's had maneuvered him out of the original clearing. One of the clones threw ninja wire and with shock he saw the clone breathe flames down the wire.

"Impossible" He thought. No way Naruto could do that and Sasuke was in the bushes across the clearing, right? He flipped out of the way only to be met with another Naruto except this one was using a Taijitsu style completely unlike Naruto. He dealt with her easily but while he was occupied he felt someone approaching from behind. They had done a pretty good job of disguising their scent but as the person reached for Hatake's pouch, Hatake grabed the person's hand and threw Naruto into the two non-Naruto clones. With a puff of smoke, the henges disappeared and Hatake's eyebrows rose. To disguise their scent, Sasuke and Sakura had taken off all their original clothes. Sasuke was in Naruto's boxers and Sakura was wearing the jump suit. Naruto was naked except for some leaves he had managed to rig together with ninja wire around his privates. How Sasuke had gotten Sakura to change into the jumpsuit and con Naruto out of all his clothes Hatake wasn't quite sure but it had been a clever plan.

The bell rang then and the three children slumped in defeat. Panic had gripped Sasuke. To not pass, to not be on a genin team, Itachi was becoming farther and farther away. In a state of blank shock he looked across the clearing. The henged clones of Sakura and Sasuke came back towards them and then dispelled, leaving a pile of clothes at the foot of each child. Sakura grabbed her clothes and went behind a tree to change while Sasuke swapped clothes with Naruto still blank faced. Once all three children were clad, they gathered morosely around Hatake. He loomed ominously over them and they were sure he was about to deliver the words that would seal their ninja futures.

"You Pass" he said simply.

"What?!" Naruto shouted the words that all of them were thinking.

"You grasped the key concept to a team. Teamwork is critically important to a team. Those who break the rules are trash but those who abandon their teammates are worse than trash" He sat back to let his students process his words.

"None of you acted independently even though I claimed to only let two of you pass. Furthermore I am slightly impressed that you guys found out so much about me". They looked up at those words.

"Figures" Sasuke thought. Of course he was stalking our planning sessions.

"Well" finished Kakashi, "I will you guys bright and early tomorrow at 8am for our registration. Congratulations, you guys are officially Team 7".


End file.
